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Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

I'm done buying printers. I've had an Epson 7900, an HP Z5200 and an Epson 3880 fail. When you factor this in with the cost of ink and paper or canvas it's just a better decision to have someone else do your printing. I use Impact Visual Arts in San Diego and sometimes Bay Photo

Not to mention they can do things that I can't even do with my own printer. Acrylic face mounts, direct UV printing on acrylic and metal.

Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

What is Epson companys lifecycle of different models ? I thought P800 was the new model.
My printer is the 3880 which I bought just before Epson launched the P800.

I indeed appreciate real development like device size/weight and feature additions.
My solution to black ink flushing is to always use glossy black, even for matte papers.
But I'm a savvy person.

I understand that worst thing with an inkjet printer is when it develops a clog and
therefore becomes a weighty piece of junk metal and plastics. This is simply not acceptable
of inkjet manufacturers to produce big printers that eventually becomes junk.

In this time of social distancing I have dusted off an old Canon iX4000 inkjet from about year 2006 and bathed
the removable printhead in water and installed inks. This is an example how an inkjet printer shoud be
designed, with user removable printhead and the possibility to buy printheads as spare parts.

Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

Originally Posted by DougDolde

I'm done buying printers. I've had an Epson 7900, an HP Z5200 and an Epson 3880 fail. When you factor this in with the cost of ink and paper or canvas it's just a better decision to have someone else do your printing. I use Impact Visual Arts in San Diego and sometimes Bay Photo

Not to mention they can do things that I can't even do with my own printer. Acrylic face mounts, direct UV printing on acrylic and metal.

I totally agree with you, but I can't fllow that route because in my country we don't have the plethora of price-competitive printing houses as they do in the USA. Thouse printers are good when people print continusly 8h a day and can pay an expensive support and parts contranct and are printing for others and getting money from it. For me the P900 could be a cost effective solution.

I hope that the change on the matte black / photo black is not a blind reaction to Canon, but the result of technology improvements. Most people do not use both all the time, and that impply clogging of say the matte black lanes. If they did this because they solve the clogging issues for good that will be great. If they did not solve the issue this is going to be a big failure of a printer.

Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

Originally Posted by jduncan

I hope that the change on the matte black / photo black is not a blind reaction to Canon, but the result of technology improvements. Most people do not use both all the time, and that impply clogging of say the matte black lanes. If they did this because they solve the clogging issues for good that will be great. If they did not solve the issue this is going to be a big failure of a printer.

I've had zero clogging problems with my P800, even though it sits unused for weeks at a time, even through the winter when the humidity is very low.

The PK/MK swap is by far my biggest gripe with the P800, and it was my biggest gripe with the 3880 that I owned before it. I'm delighted to see Epson finally fixing this.

Others will have different experiences and different preferences, and that's fine.

Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

Originally Posted by MartinN

What is Epson companys lifecycle of different models ? I thought P800 was the new model. My printer is the 3880 which I bought just before Epson launched the P800.

Typically they go ~2-4 years between models. The 3880 was a delayed refresh after the 3800 and I believe it fixed some of the reliability issues some reported with the 3800. The 4800 was upgraded to the 4900 for some time before the 3880 was released. I believe the P800 has been around since 2017 or so.

My cousin had a 3800 that gave him trouble across the 2 years he owned it around 2010 or so. I believe he got a lemon given how frequently it had issues but the shop he bought it from allowed him to trade it in towards a 7900 (I believe that was the model number) when they were released. He was able to walk away with the upgrade for about $1K with the printer, about 10 rolls of rolls of photo paper and an extra set of ink since he was a long time customer of theirs.

Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

I've had zero clogging problems with my P800, even though it sits unused for weeks at a time, even through the winter when the humidity is very low.

The PK/MK swap is by far my biggest gripe with the P800, and it was my biggest gripe with the 3880 that I owned before it. I'm delighted to see Epson finally fixing this.

Others will have different experiences and different preferences, and that's fine.

My experiences with the 3880 and P800 are like yours Oren. I too am very happy that Epson has made this change. I enjoy printing on both fine art matte and gloss/semi-gloss/Baryta papers. I often feel a need to "plan ahead" re which papers I might want to use for extended print runs (I participate in a lot of print exchanges) so I'm not switching between Photo and Matte black inks too often.

My P800 is 2-3 years old now and has been trouble free. I just bought a new set of inks for it (I try to have one of every cart always on hand), so I probably can't justify buying a P900 just yet, but it is great to know that when it is time for me to replace the P800, the new printer will have this issue of ink switching resolved once and for all.

Kudos to Epson. I had been tempted by the Canon Pro-1000 (also an excellent printer), but now I will very likely stick with Epson in the future.

With respect to the question of why do your own printing when there are good printing service labs available. Each of us makes that decision for inevitably personal reasons. I get a great deal of satisfaction of making my own inkjet prints on the types of papers I prefer using, just as I did when I had a wet darkroom. For me, making my own prints is the final step in MY photographic process. I've been making digital inkjet prints since 2002 when I switched from a traditional darkroom. I have zero interest in someone else making prints for me.

Re: New Epson P700 and P900: no more PK/MK switching!

Originally Posted by bensonga

I get a great deal of satisfaction of making my own inkjet prints on the types of papers I prefer using, just as I did when I had a wet darkroom. For me, making my own prints is the final step in MY photographic process. I've been making digital inkjet prints since 2002 when I switched from a traditional darkroom. I have zero interest in someone else making prints for me.

Gary Benson

I agree with you, Gary. Whether a print goes to a gallery, a client, or on my wall, it's my last opportunity to make it look like what I had imagined. I don't recall ever making a "straight print" from a negative or digital file as a final product. My monitors are calibrated as close to the printer and paper as possible, but only a full-size print will tell me what I need to do to make the next print look "right." Sometimes it takes several "next" prints. I still make test strips, too.